And all was right with the World
by Tira-kun
Summary: Supa Strikas fanfiction. We have had many adventures...made many new friends along the way. Some of them have a special place in our hearts - they are our animal friends.
1. The Mew

Disclaimer: Supa Strikas belong to Strika Entertainment. Any resemblance to actual people or animals is purely coincidental.

Chapter 1: The Mew

Out on the yacht there was endless blue sky, and the sound of sloshing seawater. Supa Strikas were headed for Hydra's stadium for their away game. North Shaw who looked forward to good surf there (and the match, of course), was leaning over the side of the boat brooding about something, one hand cupped under his chin. He sighed.

"We'll be there soon enough," laughed CJ.

"…You think my friend still remembers me?" said North offhandedly.

"Who? Liquido?"

"What? No, not _Liquido_ …" he said, looking round with a grimace. "I'm talking about the seagull, dude!"

Our team have had many adventures and made many new friends along the way; some were extraordinary teachers, some were everyday people, some became their rivals and some they might never see again. Some were their animal friends, and the floating stadium seagull was one of them.

Certainly there are other seagulls, but this one was quite special to North Shaw. He named his feathered friend Leslie, not knowing if it was a girl or boy. He would eventually find out that Leslie is a female, but that was much later.

It was unusual for a seagull to be living so far away from land and its own kind, but Leslie did remarkably well here. There was food, if one knew where to look and seagulls eat pretty much anything. Upon discovery that the entire stadium would sometimes sink into the sea and resurface again for periods of time, the clever gull adapted to making her nest within the walls, and even learned to recognise the siren that sounded before the stadium went underwater. Leslie liked to hang around the boats. In fact, upon their arrival she flew down and landed beside North. Acting on his good fortune, North snapped some photos on his cell phone while the friendly gull simply cocked its head this way and that, not bothered in the least by how close he was.

His teammates did wonder – how did he know this is the one? He just said what are you talking about, of course he can recognise Leslie. You would not easily forget someone if they kept you company whilst you were stranded on the vast ocean the previous season, after all.

That afternoon after practice, they all had some time and the outgoing defender hit the surf. Leslie was there as well and a little while into catching waves, North realised that he was being followed, for a lone seagull's cry accompanied him wherever he went. Whenever he looked, even surfing the big waves with the sea spray in his eyes, the daring gull was close by sailing effortlessly on the winds, and afterwards rested on his board when the waters have settled a bit. It left him without doubt that the gull had not forgotten him.

Time passed and daylight waned. With Leslie standing at the front on the surfboard, North began paddling back to the stadium that was in the middle of the ocean. Truth be told, this place was no home for a seagull. Leslie might persevere here, but she was the only one. Most birds would not stay, for long anyway. It had been tough, especially the times she had to brave the elements on the open ocean alone. She would see other seagulls fly past and overhead from her favourite roosting spot outside, and call in unison with them.

The floating stadium seagull had returned so far this season, but no one could tell if it would still be here or have moved on the next time they visit.

With his day at a close, North petted the top of the seagull's head with his finger a last time. "See ya!" he called as watched Leslie take off into the distance.

He did not see Leslie again for a long time. The season ended.

* * *

One fine sunny morning, Leslie hovered down to her favourite roosting spot. But this time, another seagull joined her. He stood by her side protectively and she settled herself down, eyes half closed in a relaxed manner.

* * *

A/N: My friend Angel helped me with this chapter. Without her the ending would have been much different. Thank you so much, Angel!

Next chapter, Supa Strikas go to Feratuvia, home of Grimm FC. (Klaus: Und ze world's best strudel!) Personal belongings start to go missing, and Twisting Tiger finds out why.


	2. The Little Thief

Disclaimer: Supa Strikas belong to Strika Entertainment. Any resemblance to actual people or animals is purely coincidental.

Chapter 2: The Little Thief

"Has anyone seen my goalie gloves? I _still_ can't find them," Bo asked the guestroom at large while searching his bedside drawer. "From morning 'til now…"

The guys were getting ready to visit the town of Feratuvia, since they only glimpsed it the last time they were here at the Cauldron. Klaus had been longing to visit, no doubt for the famous strudel. "…Oh, hey, don't trouble yourself…" Bo said kindly to Tiger, who unfortunately, had an injured ankle from training earlier and did not feel like joining them.

"I also can't find one of mi socks," muttered El Matador.

"You can search for them later," said Coach. They were a little sorry that Tiger would not be coming along. He was feeling glum, but put on a smile and waved it off. He watched their bus progress down the road, mooched around a bit, took a nap, woke up again…and he was moodily perusing a magazine, when he saw what was unmistakably a _ferret_ moving across the floor.

"Huh?"

He sat up to get a better look at the ferret. What was it doing here? Where did it come from? It was exploring the shared guestroom, poking its nose in and out under the beds. After awhile, it got up onto _his_ bed where he was lounging, and climbed up his shoulder to check him out. He chuckled. He picked it up and was delighted by the cute creature especially its Zorro - esque mask, and though it did nip at his fingers at first, how could he be mad at that adorable face? After setting the ferret down on the floor where it hung around, he sat down with it too. He rolled a tennis ball for it to chase, and they played tug of war with a page torn from the magazine he was browsing. While playing, the funny little ferret would often leap about happily in an excited dance, which made him laugh.

Presently, the ferret came across Blok's teddy bear Aristotle. It whisked Aristotle off the bed nearest the door, and scurried away out of the room with the soft toy in its mouth. "Ah! Hey!" Looks like Tiger found out who was taking all their stuff! He went after it as fast as he could on a sore ankle, but it disappeared somewhere.

Puzzled, he wandered around, searching rooms, and down another corridor nearly bumped into Grimm FC's coach Belmont who was looking troubled and held a sheaf of papers.

"Twisting Tiger! I thought you all went out?"

"Hi Mr. Belmont! …Erm, have you seen a ferret -?"

At this, Belmont's face lit up. He hastily held out a notice for a lost ferret.

"You mean, this one?"

"Yeah!"

Belmont sighed. "I came to work today and found that one of the ferrets we keep here had escaped. I must not have closed the cage properly. I thought I'd inform your coach, but I heard you all already left!"

Tiger explained what happened as well and felt sorry that he let it out of his sights.

"Hmm, yes he does like to steal things…" Now they might _never_ find him again, thought Belmont. However, he knew of a few places the ferret might be hiding stolen items and said so.

"Then we should hurry, we might find him there!" said Tiger.

"My goodness, of course!"

Very luckily for them, they _did_ find the little bandit, well, ferreting about an old chest of drawers in a drawing room. Belmont would muse to himself afterwards that having ferrets in a castle was asking for trouble!

"Well done, Tiger! Hold on to him properly now!"

Tiger had not really mentioned the lost teddy bear - Blok preferred to keep Aristotle a secret from anyone not within his circle of friends. But Belmont had already begun searching.

"Let's see what we've got…"

Belmont got down and looked under the chest of drawers. "Mm-hm, there's a bunch of things here alright…" he said and began to retrieve them.

Tiger did not really think much of Belmont's statement. How much could a ferret steal in two days? He was about to see for himself. In the meantime, his teammates had returned from their day out a little while ago and were making their way through the castle corridors.

"The ONE day ve go, and ze shop is _closed_!" Klaus was still going on about it. "…Should have called first…"

They were trooping past the room and Shakes doubled back. There was Belmont pulling out things from under the furniture to add to a growing jumble of assorted items on the floor, with Tiger looking on beside him in amusement!

"…Another pen…a coaster…" Belmont was saying.

"Hey? Tiger!" When the Strikas saw the furry animal in Tiger's arms, their faces brightened. He looked at them, his mood much better now than earlier that day. Already he was almost back to his usual lively self.

"This is Ollie, our little thief," said Tiger.

"Dere actually are ferrets here," said Rasta in surprise.

While Coach and Belmont chatted with each other, everyone gathered round Ollie to see and pet him. It turned out that Ollie and his (less trouble-making) brother Ricky used to be feral ferrets living in the castle until workers caught them when the place had a makeover. Seeing they had nowhere to go, Belmont let them stay in the castle as his pets and the resident ferrets of the Cauldron.

Of the things recovered from the ferret hidey hole, besides the ones Belmont already mentioned, there were: a couple of soft toys including Blok's bear, Bo's goalie gloves, more pens, a notepad with a number for strudel delivery, an old pair of spectacles, Belmont's notes on formations for his team (" _Here it is!"_ ), and one of CJ's power combs which he did not even know was missing. What a fuss the little rascal caused, but he also brought some welcomed cheer, and all's well that ends well!

"That tickles!" Tiger laughed. Somebody put Ollie on his shoulder from behind, and from his perch Ollie nuzzled up to him. Tiger had been in a funk, especially after he hurt himself at practice, but his ferret friend helped him forget that.

* * *

A/N: Belmont keeps the ferrets in the castle because he has pets at home that may be prey to ferrets. Also, because the castle is their original home.

Finally, SS head back to Strikaland, and a furry pitch invader makes the game go out the window for some animal lovers watching at home, probably.


	3. The Tuxedo

Based on and for those special cats I met but do not see anymore.

Disclaimer: Supa Strikas belong to Strika Entertainment. Any resemblance to actual people or other animals is purely coincidental.

Chapter 3: The Tuxedo

It was another big match day at Strikaland, but the first half had barely gotten underway when the referee had to blow the whistle. A cat had wandered onto the pitch! Fortunately, there were no accidents or malicious behavior on any soccer player's part; the cat mostly avoided them and soon went away from the center of all the commotion, heading for the sidelines where the barriers and managers and reserves were.

"Shoo!" said Griz as the feline approached them. Lankey gave him an angry look.

"Oi, leave him alone."

"Yeah, it's only a little kitty," said Rizo.

"Whatever, man. I'm allergic…" retorted Griz.

Meanwhile, Eagle Eye had gotten up to look at the cat. He always liked cats. It was black with a patch of white down front, had built-in white socks, and yellow eyes. As soon as it saw Eagle Eye, it went up to him, mewed and flopped down at his feet. Afterwards it was taken away by security and the game resumed, but Eagle Eye was enchanted by the cat he met that afternoon, and thought of it often.

Some time later, he discovered by chance that Mr. Grimes the groundskeeper was looking after the Strikaland cat because no owner had come forward. Eagle Eye wondered how the cat was doing, so Shakes tugged him by the arm and introduced him to the grizzled old groundskeeper after practice and hurriedly left. (Grimes started questioning who broke the window last week.)

Grimes paused in his raking of the leaves. "…You're that new guy, aren't ye?" He always wore an eye patch and a frown, and appeared gruff, but he was really a kind person. "Yeah, I have him." He led the way into a cluttered shed full of stuff and equipment. It also had a small pantry, table and chair, and the friendly cat, which greeted them with a mew and tail curled like a question mark.

"I seen him around since he was a kitten, with his mama…" said Grimes, stroking the cat's back. "I never saw her or the other kittens again after that heavy rain though…" The cat did not really have a name yet. As Eagle Eye was bending down to pet it, his long braid dangled in front of its sights like enticing prey. The cat locked on, jumped up and caught it. The sight of the big man stuck awkwardly laughing with the end of his pigtail in the cat's grasp made even the old groundskeeper's thin lips curl in a chuckle. He observed them a bit and then went to get drinks.

The cat followed them around, rubbing up on things and then flopped under the table, playfully kicking Eagle's shoes with his back feet while Grimes drew up another chair.

"So, do ye want him? I'll give him to ye."

"What?…"

The question should have made a cat-less cat guy like him very happy, but he hesitated, understandably. He was not expecting this. He waved his hands and stressed again that he just wanted to SEE the Strikaland cat, and…

"He's yours! Don't you want him?" Eagle asked with concern.

"I got three cats at home already," said the old man less gruffly, thinking of his cats Marble (tortoiseshell), Patches (white and black), and Ginger (orange and white). He explained that he could not afford to keep another cat; also he was not getting any younger ("ye know?"). He felt responsible for this little tuxedo and would like to give it away himself. Call it intuition or whatever, Grimes could tell Eagle Eye was the one. He picked up the cat and made him take it.

"See? He likes ye."

It was looking up at him curiously. Eagle Eye was reminded of his first cat, and felt the familiar heartache. She was the family cat, a sweet calico who loved being held in his arms, and she was very dear to him. When he was a kid, she would often run up to him and greet him after school. But one day, she could not. Many years passed, and he could still remember her last moments as clearly as that day, for he was with her to the end. Sometimes he wondered if he had done this and that then, could she have been saved. She was more than just a pet to him and he never really got over her death. He had not had another pet since.

The cat leaned quietly into him, while Eagle Eye gently petted its head. A human who lost his cat, and a cat who lost its family made a connection then. The cat hunkered down, relaxed, and Eagle Eye gave in.

And that was how he adopted Oreo the cat. Oreo was a bit reserved at first, but after some time he really came out of his shell. He was content being by Eagle's side; whether it was outdoors under the warm sun, or simply lounging on the couch at home, and made sure his human knew it too with lots of bunting, purring and snuggling. When North and Blok came over to hang out, they thought Oreo the coolest cat ever because he could give high fives, when he felt like it, of course. Friendly, smart, adventurous, loving, and one to support him before a game, Oreo became his closest animal friend. He felt very happy, and he knew Oreo was too.

An old photo he kept always of her, that special calico who was a friend to his younger self. You do not forget a beloved pet, for they became part of your family, and you might think that you could never bear to have another animal companion again. But Eagle Eye found that there was room in his heart to love, and bringing home Oreo the cat was the best thing he ever done.

FIN


End file.
